Terry Arden has been named CEO of LMI Technologies Inc. , Delta, British Columbia. He succeeds Len Metcalfe, who will continue as chairman. Arden was chief technical officer.
William C. Bodie has become president of Houston-based Kellogg Brown and Root ’s North American government and defense business. He was vice president-defense programs at DFI International and had been U.S. Air Force communications director.
Congratulations to the Obama administration for keeping NASA’s program appetite within a politically supportable budget, one that seems to represent the U.S. public’s support for space programs. The Constellation Program is unnecessary; travel to low Earth orbit (LEO) has reached a level of maturity comparable to 1930s air travel, making it time for NASA to focus on exploration and give industry the task of lofting payloads to LEO.
The centrist leaders of the Senate’s Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee are calling on the Obama administration to reverse proposed cuts to the Coast Guard’s budget in Fiscal 2011, specifically by using money that has been proposed for U.S.-based terrorist trials instead. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.), the panel’s chairman, and Susan Collins (Maine), the ranking Republican, say the budget request would drop the Coast Guard’s funding by $75 million below last year’s budget and reduce the number of uniformed personnel by more than 1,100.
Burt Rutan admits it’s surprising, coming from a dyed-in-the-wool commercial space pioneer like himself, but he has qualms about NASA’s plan to turn U.S. human space access over to commercial vehicles. “No question, it would be good to see commercial companies quickly succeed at orbital access and to take that capability beyond low Earth orbit,” he tells an aide to Rep. Frank Wolf (R-Va.) in an e-mail message. “However, I am fearful that the commercial guys will fail; i.e.
Two big battles in Europe between airlines and their unions have hit a brief lull. After initiating a four-day strike, Lufthansa’s pilots union called it off to re-enter negotiations with the airline, at least until Mar. 8. Meanwhile, British Airways cabin crews voted to authorize a strike, but are waiting to give talks time to advance.
:Boeing has brought more fuel-efficient engines, a stretched fuselage, a higher-lift wing and new systems to the 747-8 to extend the brand into its fifth decade. But Boeing is keeping the new airplane’s handling and flight deck close to those of its predecessor -400 so pilots can make an easy transition. While the first flight of the 747-8F provided a spectacular view over Washington state’s Mount Rainier, the test program will quickly shift to Palmdale, Calif. Our coverage begins on p. 42. Photo by Leo Dejillas .
Release of the final request for proposals (RFP) for the U.S. Air Force’s KC-X tanker could lead to a contracting conundrum. If the Northrop Grumman/EADS North America team follows through on its threat not to bid, the Pentagon’s strategy designed to elicit low, fixed-price offers from competitors could backfire. With only Boeing in the running, the Pentagon’s plan could lead to insufficient insight and auditability into the contractor’s pricing.
Defense ministers from Belgium, France, Germany and the Netherlands have formally approved establishment of the European Air Transport Command (ETAC). It is expected to commence operations in September from its home in Eindhoven, Netherlands, with personnel starting to arrive in July help build the organization. The European partners are hoping to attract other nations to join the effort aimed at pooling and more efficiently employing scarce airlifters and tankers. Spain already is acting as an observer.
The long, turbulent A400M saga continues, as the French Cour des comptes—an oversight agency similar to the U.S. Government Accountability Office—questions the military airlifter’s raison d’etre. Although it is far too late to engage in existential debate about the program’s justification, such negative publicity will likely cause a breach of confidence while a new funding arrangement is being finalized.
U.S. Army Brig. Gens. Genaro J. Dellarocco, Brian A. Keller and Francis G. Mahon have been promoted to major general. Dellarocco is program executive officer for missiles and space at Redstone Arsenal, Ala. Keller is military executive for the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, Bethesda, Md., and Mahon deputy for test and assessment at the Missile Defense Agency in Washington.
Lawmakers are riled about the Obama administration’s new space plan, and particularly its cancellation of the Constellation Program of shuttle follow-on vehicles after NASA spent $9 billion on it (see p. 24). But Republicans in both houses go beyond that bipartisan upset to launch rare personal attacks on a couple of top political appointees at the agency. Sen.
NASA is set to loft the third and final Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) in the GOES-N series on a United Launch Alliance Delta IV from Cape Canaveral AFS, Fla., on Mar. 2. Liftoff is set for a window that opens at 6:19 p.m. EST and closes an hour later. Designated GOES-P until its checkout in orbit by manufacturer Boeing Space and Intelligence Systems in El Segundo Calif., the geostationary weather satellite will be stored in orbit as GOES-15 until one of the operational spacecraft fails.
Boeing is set to begin assembly of the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite K/L spacecraft it is building for NASA following completion of system critical design review and production readiness review. Approval came Feb. 19 after a three-day review by NASA . Launches are set in 2012 and 2013.
Alliant Techsystems (ATK) engineers will use results from this final ground test of a space shuttle reusable solid rocket motor (RSRM) to continue work on the five-segment version of the powerplant they are developing as the first stage of the Ares I crew launch vehicle.
Astrium says it has completed the test campaign intended to qualify a new dispenser for Globalstar’s second-generation satphone and data constellation. Qualification of the dispenser, which will permit the Soyuz rocket to accommodate six Globalstar 2 spacecraft, clears the way for delivery of flight units. The first batch of the 24 satellites under contract is to be launched in July-September, the second in December and the final two in March and June 2011 (AW&ST Feb. 1, p. 44).
Mar. 8-12—Applied Technology Institutes’ Space-Based Radar. Holiday Inn, Laurel, Md. Call +1 (410) 956-8805 or see www.aticourses.com Mar. 10-11—American Astronautical Society’s 48th Robert H. Goddard Memorial Symposium: “Earth and Beyond: The Next Decades.” Greenbelt (Md.) Marriott. Call +1 (703) 866-0020 or see www.astronautical.org
Jonathan Byrne has become chief operating officer of the London-based Royal Aeronautical Society . He was commercial director of the Queen Elizabeth II Conference Center.
The proposed merger between Aegean Airlines and Olympic Air is receiving an initial positive reaction, although the putative partners have yet to fully spell out the cost savings and revenue benefits they expect to realize.
European Union emissions allowance (EUA) prices were upbeat in the first half of February, but came under selling pressure during the second half of the month, holding within the previous month’s trading range.
With approval from the Korea Civil Aviation Safety Authority, Boeing Shanghai Aviation Services will be able to conduct heavy maintenance on 737’s operating in South Korea. The Koreans acted two months after the FAA expanded the scope of the facility into heavy maintenance. Boeing, China’s Shanghai Airlines and authorities at the city’s Pudong International Airport opened the maintenance and overhaul operation in June 2006 .
In your article on future rotorcraft you report on studies by NASA to enable the development of a regional jet-size vertical-takeoff-and-landing aircraft to operate between city centers (AW&ST Feb. 15, p. 46).
Bob Klein (see photos) has been named vice president-engineering for the Battle Management and Engagement Systems Div./deputy for engineering for the Northrop Grumman Corp. ’s Aerospace Systems Sector, Bethpage, N.Y. He was vice president of the Maritime and Tactical Systems business area and had been vice president-engineering, logistics and technology for the Airborne Early Warning and Electronic Warfare unit. Klein has been succeeded by Daniel W. Chang, who was an executive of the Airborne Early Warning/Battle Management Command and Control business.
